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Schools says iPods becoming tool for cheaters

Schools says iPods becoming tool for cheaters
POSTED: 7:59 a.m. EDT, April 27, 2007
Story Highlights
• Students downloading formulas onto digital media players
• Some students say bans ineffective as cheaters will find another way
• Duke University provides iPods to help students in courses

MERIDIAN, Idaho (AP) -- Banning baseball caps during tests was obvious -- students were writing the answers under the brim. Then, schools started banning cell phones, realizing students could text message the answers to each other.

Now, schools across the country are targeting digital media players as a potential cheating device. Devices including iPods and Zunes can be hidden under clothing, with just an earbud and a wire snaking behind an ear and into a shirt collar to give them away, school officials say.

"It doesn't take long to get out of the loop with teenagers," said Mountain View High School Principal Aaron Maybon. "They come up with new and creative ways to cheat pretty fast."

Mountain View recently enacted a ban on digital media players after school officials realized some students were downloading formulas and other material onto the players.

"A teacher overheard a couple of kids talking about it," said Maybon.

Kemp said she does not have hard statistics on the phenomenon but said it is not unusual for schools to ban digital media players.

"I think it is becoming a national trend," she said. "We hope that each district will have a policy in place for technology -- it keeps a lot of the problems down."

Using the devices to cheat is hardly a new phenomenon, said Shana Kemp, spokeswoman for the National Association of Secondary School Principals. However, sometimes it takes awhile for teachers and administrators, who come from an older generation, to catch on to the various ways the technology can be used.

Some students use iPod-compatible voice recorders to record test answers in advance and them play them back, 16-year-old Mountain View junior Damir Bazdar said.

Others download crib notes onto the music players and hide them in the "lyrics" text files. Even an audio clip of the old "Schoolhouse Rock" take on how a bill makes it through Congress can come in handy during some American government exams.

Kelsey Nelson, a 17-year-old senior at the school, said she used to listen to music after completing her tests -- something she can no longer do since the ban. Still, she said, the ban has not stopped some students from using the devices.

"You can just thread the earbud up your sleeve and then hold it to your ear like you're resting your head on your hand," Nelson said. "I think you should still be able to use iPods. People who are going to cheat are still going to cheat, with or without them."

Still, schools around the world are hoping bans will at least stave off some cheaters.

A teacher at San Gabriel High School in West Covina, California, confiscated a student's iPod during a class and found the answers to a test, crib notes and a definition list hidden among the teen's music selections. Schools in Seattle, Washington, have also banned the devices.

The practice is not limited to the United States: St. Mary's College, a high school in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada, banned cell phones and digital medial players this year, while the University of Tasmania prohibits iPods, electronic dictionaries, CD players and spell-checking devices.

Conversely, Duke University in North Carolina began providing iPods to its students three years ago as part of an experiment to see how the devices could be used to enhance learning.

The music players proved to be invaluable for some courses, including music, engineering and sociology classes, said Tim Dodd, executive director of The Center for Academic Integrity at Duke. At Duke, incidents of cheating have declined over the past 10 years, largely because the community expects its students to have academic integrity, he said.

"Trying to fight the technology without a dialogue on values and expectations is a losing battle," Dodd said. "I think there's kind of a backdoor benefit here. As teachers are thinking about how technology has corrupted, they're also thinking about ways it can be used productively."

"What we are dealing with here, is a complete lack of respect for the law" - Jackie Gleason, Smokey and the Bandit

Absolutely. We will start CRTs (standardized, end-of-year tests) next week, and we teachers will be collecting and holding phones and MP3s at the beginning of each class, to be returned to students at the end.

Why does everything have to be BANNED....in my high school we were just told to put away our iPods and our cell-phones during class and tests and quizzes...how hard is that to say?....there is no reason to BAN any of those items from school....if a kid takes out one of those during a test....give him zero...then they'll learn...

My man, when you are fantasizing, don't go for attainable, you can get attainable at the local Applebee's. - Dave's Dreidel

Why does everything have to be BANNED....in my high school we were just told to put away our iPods and our cell-phones during class and tests and quizzes...how hard is that to say?....there is no reason to BAN any of those items from school....if a kid takes out one of those during a test....give him zero...then they'll learn...

because they'll find ways to conceal it during a test, as described in the article... there's no reason to have one in class anyway... your focus should be on the teacher/professor and the lesson or test...

it's very easy to pack away your player to listen to in between classes or to and from school...

Why does everything have to be BANNED....in my high school we were just told to put away our iPods and our cell-phones during class and tests and quizzes...how hard is that to say?....there is no reason to BAN any of those items from school....if a kid takes out one of those during a test....give him zero...then they'll learn...

Back in the olden days, just after we inveted fire, the first Sony Walkmans came out. They were around $75 back then, so not everyone could afford them. They were banned from school because the rich kids were getting mugged and having them stolen.

If I had an i-Pod today I wouldn't take it to school for exactly that reason.

I don't see why teachers aren't issued these:

They work on i-Pods, Zunes and guns. I kinda figured that they'd be standard in today's classrooms anyway.

"Nothing is ever what it seems but everything is exactly what it is." - B. Banzai

because they'll find ways to conceal it during a test, as described in the article... there's no reason to have one in class anyway... your focus should be on the teacher/professor and the lesson or test...

it's very easy to pack away your player to listen to in between classes or to and from school...

I agree...there is no reason to have one in class...but if it's so easy to conceal than they will be able to conceal it in the halls and outside of class as well (that's if there is a SCHOOL WIDE band of these items)....

My man, when you are fantasizing, don't go for attainable, you can get attainable at the local Applebee's. - Dave's Dreidel

I agree...there is no reason to have one in class...but if it's so easy to conceal than they will be able to conceal it in the halls and outside of class as well (that's if there is a SCHOOL WIDE band of these items)....

as the husband of a teacher, i'm in 100% agreement of banning them. And banning doesn't mean you can't keep a phone/ipod in your bag or your locker if it's turned off. But how hard is to turn the damn thing off before you walk into the school. The City of Toronto just banned cell hones from classes - a very smart move.

But I don't blame the kids, I blame their moronic parents who seem to think they should have 24/7 access to their kids. They were talking about the ban on talk radio and almost every parent was against the ban, since they couldn't access their kids if they didn't have phones. When the radio host asked one of these geniuses what the purpose of the last call to his son was during school he said it was to "let him know what they were having for dinner". These are the people raising kids, it's a miracle more kids aren't fucked up.

I carry an iPod in my pocket with me at school, but NEVER use it unless I have a teacher's consent to use it or until school's out and I'm waiting for the bus. Really, it's not worth keeping out of school completely, as long as you keep it away from the wrong eyes (which isn't hard to do when you're surrounded by hundreds of people) and you don't use it unless given permission.

One of my classes allows me to use my iPod, once we finish our work/quizzes/tests. Thats fair, I believe, as long as you don't abuse that privilege.

I know kids who've cheated, or just disrespected teachers by listening to iPods during lessons, which I've never done, nor will I ever do for that matter.

"I respect that youre passionate about this but what your saying is complete idiocy..."- MF5150 on McDonald's "preying" on young kids.

"He was born a human, he's a horse's ass by proxy."- It's Mike on Eddymon.

Another issue is with camera phones a quick snapshot can be made of tests and of compromising positions of folks in the locker room. I have had female students sending pictures of other half naked females to friends. Before anyone gets a "what is wrong with that" vibe going remember these are middle school 11-14 year old kids. It is kiddy porn.

Why does everything have to be BANNED....in my high school we were just told to put away our iPods and our cell-phones during class and tests and quizzes...how hard is that to say?....there is no reason to BAN any of those items from school....if a kid takes out one of those during a test....give him zero...then they'll learn...

we couldn't even have cell phones, hats or anything at my high school, thank god im outta that bitch

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